Tikka T3 243 win Question

[Prieto9000]

I just bought a T3 Laminated in 243 win. I didn´t realize it has a crappy 1:10 twist until i went online and did some research.
Has anyone used the 100 grainers in this rifle?? It´s not supposed to stabilize bullets heavier than 90.
I used to have a sako 85 Varmint in the same caliber and ended up selling it because it had the 1:10 barrel and could´t make it shoot anything over 90r.
75gr V-Max´s worked great in that rifle but it was intended as a deer rifle. 95 SST´s printed not so great 1.5-1.75 groups.
Can´t understand why Sako is putting 1:10 barrels on their 243 and 1:8 on the 260´s

Can anyone recommend a good light hunting bullet for my 243?? I plan to rebarrel it with a 1:7.5 Benchmark but not right away, maybe next summer and I want something to try it before deer season ends.

Next summer I plan to replace as follows:
Benchmark 1:7.5 #6 contour fluted @ 26" chambered 6mm Creedmoore
Mini Mag Muscle break
Titanium Shroud
Titanium/Carbon fiber Bolt handle
Titanium Recoil Lug
Stainless Steel Bottom Metal Non AICS

 

[santee116]

I've got the same rifle.

It shoots 87 vmax, 95 ballistic tips, and 100 grain pro hunters just fine.

The 100 grain pro hunters are flat based, so that helps.

 

[Idaho Trecker]

I have a Sako 85 Varmint in 243, Sako 85 hunter that was 243 I simply rechambered factory barrel to 6mm AI, and buddy has the Tikka t3 Lite in 243. All of them shoot 95 grain Berger Classic Hunters lights out!!! Give them a try. They have stabilized in all of these 1:10 barrels. I also had good luck with 90 grain swift scirocco and 100 grain Speer BTSP.
Good luck

 

[roninflag]

Prieto- i do not understand why you would say they are not supposed to stabilize anything over 90 grains. i have been shooting sako .243's since 1968. they have a 1-10 twist and they shoot awesome. with hornday and sierra sp, and btsp i have taken many deer and antelope. i have guided two hunters shooting .243s to harvest elk. one with a 95 partition. one with a 100 sierra btsp. You do not say what you are hunting or shooting at. the lightest bullet i have shot is the 60 sierra hp, the heaviest is the 105 speer. what other loads did you shoot in your sako 85? how far off the lands was your bullet?

 

[roninflag]

you already sold the sako 85 heavy barrel? dern!

 

[graywolf]

I used the 80 gr TTSX in my Tikka .243 to take many mule deer without any issues

 

[Prieto9000]

Prieto- i do not understand why you would say they are not supposed to stabilize anything over 90 grains. i have been shooting sako .243's since 1968. they have a 1-10 twist and they shoot awesome. with hornday and sierra sp, and btsp i have taken many deer and antelope. i have guided two hunters shooting .243s to harvest elk. one with a 95 partition. one with a 100 sierra btsp. You do not say what you are hunting or shooting at. the lightest bullet i have shot is the 60 sierra hp, the heaviest is the 105 speer. what other loads did you shoot in your sako 85? how far off the lands was your bullet?

I've used hornady SST, swift sirocco II, and factory remington express 100gr ammo on the heavy side and the best accurracy was with the sst with not so great 1.5"-1.75" groups.
I normally seat my bullets .005"-.010" off the lands if the mag allows it, which in this case it did.
75gr A-Max's printed 0.5" groups most of the time so I can't say the rifle is not accurrate. My only logical explanation is that a 1:10 barrel can't stabilize bullets correctly.
Berger twist rate calculator says I can't use anything heavier than 87gr from their line of bullets.

 

[roninflag]

you can shoot a 100 grain horn or sierra btsp or a 100 or 95 nosler partition (or ballistic tip). I have shot those for deer. also I have shot 68,71, 80, 87 and 88 grain berger on coyotes. all have shot great. What are you shooting at? targets? deer ? antelope?

 

[somerumfun]

Just purchased Tikka T3 Lite. Same twist. Try 90 Grain Lapua Scenar L, N165 or H4831 powder, CCI_BR2 Primers, Lapua Brass. OAL just off lands. I shot very tight groups right out of the box with these combos. Max loads per manuals for both. Maybe better than 1/2" groups.

The Lapua Scenar L are VLD type bullets with high BCs. (You could also use Nosler 95 Grain CTBST.) Berger Bullets have higher BC but you may need faster twist. I am confident that I could shoot tight groups with 100 Grain Nosler Partitions but with more kick and lower BC trade off. I have also had a rifle chambered in 6mm-284 with a 7.5" twist Krieger barrel and shot both Berger VLDs and Sierra MK high BC bullets. The difference was between 700 and 100 yards. My application for the 243 is Coues Deer and Coyotes and lighter stuff inside 650 yards. Futher than that, I go to my larger stuff. If you run the numbers, the difference inside 600 yards is not significant unless heavy cross winds are prevalent.

I have also found that with VLDs, having the twist keeping bullet on ragged edge of stability can often be very accurate.

Further, quoting from Brian Litz and Eric Stoecker from the Berger site...."In other words, the Berger recommended twist rates may be faster than what you actually need in your environment.
One other thing to understand about the Berger optimal twist rates is that since they're based on achieving optimal stability and performance, you can use slower twist rates and achieve good accuracy, although you may not be getting all the BC out of them.
In addition to basing the twist requirements on full stability, the twist rates are also rounded down to the nearest whole number." bold and underline added for emphasis.

My take- you can shoot really good bullets with your 10 twist Tikka.

 

[roninflag]

the sako 85 varmint is around, 1800$. It is difficult for me to imagine it not shooting as good as the ones I have that were made in 1968 and 1969. prior to certain technologies we have now.

 

[MarkA]

Having been in the same situation with twist in a .243 there are 2 real hunting bullets that really perform well in the 10 twist, stability factor of 1.3 or better down to 0 degrees.......

90 Nosler Accubond (best load was at 44.3 IMR4831 3050fps)

80 TTSX (best load was at 43.5 H4350 3260fps)

Magneto Speed velocities from 20" barrel.

Both were .5 to .6 moa accuracy.

 

[ShootnMathews]

I have a Marlin XS7 .243 with a 20" 1:10 pencil thin barrel. Factory rem coreloks shot 2" at 100 marginally stable. It would not stabilize 95 VLDs enough to shoot well. 95 grain Classic Hunters stabilized well and shot 1/2 MOA. Did not chrono those. I just stuck with the load I've used for years which is a 95 grn Ballistic Tip Nosler over 35 grains of Varget. Shoots 2886 fps. 1/2" at 100 and 2" - 2.5" at 500 yards. Devastating performance on deer.

 

[dougduey]

I have the same rifle and it's a tack driver with 95 & 100 gr bullets. All shoot 0.5 moa or better. It shoots sub moa with factory ammo.
95gr Ballistic tip
44.0 gr HV100, 2.71" COAL, 3159 fps

100gr Partition & 100gr Hornady Interlock
44.0gr HV100, 2.65" COAL, 3147 fps

All above with Winchester brass and WLR primers

 

[Prieto9000]

Ghanés for the responses. I'll try some loads next wEek